the-light

Mietek

(1968)

The fear dissolved a moment ago.
Mietek stared at the dirty ceiling with little interest. One can't
observe much when lying on a hospital bed in front of the surgery.
The ceiling with spiderwebs in the corners and clots on the opposite,
greenish wall, half-covered with oil paint were the only things that
the boy lying on his side could see. Ten minutes earlier he got an
injection and all the pain and fear was gone. Before that, a half an
hour ago, he was told to go see a nurse who would do him an enema.
But the view of the device which was about to be slotted into his
very sensitive and embarrassing place was so horrifying to Mietek,
that he broke away from nurse's hands, ran into the toilet and
quickly did the required cleansing, himself. The nurse was waiting
impatiently by the door, asking if he's done, because the surgeons
were ready.

The bed arrived at the surgery. As
the mask approached Mietek's face, the hospital world faded away and
then an unusual view appeased before his eyes. A dark corridor – a
gray hall, lit by a bright, yellow, almost blinding light. It didn't
blind him though, but surrounded and drew him in. He saw a familiar
face and someone else reached out a hand towards him. It wasn't
necessary to take it. A group of blurred shadow-like people appeared
beside him. They seemed kind, but weaker and ethereal and they
observed him indifferently. The main and the closest person spoke
words, which the boy couldn't understand. The beings floated away,
talking to each other and minding their own business. Suddenly,
Mietek started to flow towards the round, overtaking light, whose
words he couldn't heard but understood. That light soon became the
most perfect and loving being, that said: “Go back, it's not your
time yet. You have something to do down there.”.

And then having taken a bird's or a
fly's perspective, Mietek saw the small operating room below him, a
slightly opened monumental bay window, stressed doctors, the dishes
that he knew are called basins and blood-covered strips of his own
body in them, metal devices and bandages. He didn't know what the
doctors were talking about, but he could feel that thy were happy and
relieved that the little boy was brought back
to life.

After the appendix removal, Mietek
awakened this time “for real” in an old hospital room filled with
adult and little patients. In the corner, independently-walking
patients could observe through a great, Gothic window, a gray
backyard, where the only attraction was taking out the trash and
waste from the surgery. The patients suspected that the waste
consisted of cut-off limbs and soft guts, among which there must
have been that weird appendix.

A few days before, Mietek arrived
to the hospital in a very bad condition. During a trip to a nearby
lake, he began to suffer from excruciating stomachache, which grew as
he was driven from one doctor to another on the back o a motorcycle.
It could have ended tragically. Doctors ignored the symptoms, so
Mietek's parents, terrified by his condition, decided to drive him to
a hospital. And then the worst thing occurred – the appendix
spilled all over his abdomen. He must have been immediately operated.

But soon after the operation, he
happily described to other patients, what took place in the
operating room. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, one of
them said:

- What are you talking about, son?
What a load of bullshit. What are you saying, that you saw the
Archangel Gabriel or maybe even Jesus?

- Give him a break, that probably
was a side-effect from narcosis.- other one added.

The whole room of people, big and
little, burst with laughter. Mietek fell silent. He fell silent for
decades. He never spoke about that in public ever gain.

He just laid on
the first hospital bed by the door and watched hospital life, still
wondering about what happened to him. There were two boys lying next
to him. Both of them had broken collarbones and both wore something
called a “plane”. One of them wore it on his left arm and the
other one on his right arm. Each of them fell from a tree. One from
an apple tree and the other from sweet cherry tree. A dying
man laid next to them and a pool of blood collected under his bed.
He was run over by a truck and there was no hope
for him. His groaning wasn't loud as he was already too weak for
that.

And all Mietek could think about
were the words “Go back, it's not your time yet. You have something
to do down there.”. A puzzling mystery. Did he see a ghost or heard
God? He couldn't figure out what is it that he had to do down here.
He didn't seem to be particularly talented in any area, that could
serve or change the world. Such a strange incident. Maybe it
actually was a vision influenced by narcosis?

After he was signed off from the
hospital and driven back home, he finally had a moment of peace.
His parent's put him on their bed. His mom, happy to have him safe
and sound back home, brought him a cup of tea. The light of the warm,
Jun day shone through the curtained window. Mietek's friends were
still stuck at school, as he just laid and stared at his sore
stomach.

Soon, he was able to get up by
himself. It was weird to learn to walk again. And the dream he had
during the surgery, was still coming back to him at night. Both
words began to feel like dreams to him. His own home was foreign to
him just as the hospital dream, which, as time went by, slowly became
a faded memory.

“Why do I hear
ringing in my ears, every now and again?” - Mietek thinks nowadays.
He won't tell that to anyone. What if they take him to the hospital
again?

Czesław

(2002)

- Doctor, I experience frequent
dizziness. I hear some noise in my head and I feel very weak. Lately,
when I was walking in the park, I suddenly felt my legs become
strangely rubbery and I was about to fall down.

- Czesław, these are all symptoms
of being overweight. Please, lose some pounds and stop bothering
doctors with such sitters.

- Is it really all because of
obesity? I only weigh 220 lbs. How do I go about it?

-I suggest the EL vitamin - “eat
less”. You simply have to go on a diet, exercise regularly, move
your body, sign to a gym or get a personal trainer. Good luck and
goodbye.

A bit upset and humiliated Czesław,
walked along the streets towards his block. He did not appreciate
that made-up, perfumed, young doctor, sitting in her office all
dressed up and fit like a sportswoman. She was indeed very attractive
and she knew that.

“Look at that
chick! Damn, she tells me to lose weight! She must have had a good
laugh... What am I to do?”

And then, like a message from the
heavens, an advertisement appeared before him: “Weight balancing –
gaining or losing weight, amazing, American herbs, call 602 888 777”,
written across a red Mercedes. Czesław was about to write down that
phone number, when he saw the owner of that car, carrying a large
box. Czesław approached the man and timidly asked:

- Good morning, Sir. Could you help
me lose weight, please?

- Good morning! Absolutely, I will
be happy to help you. Here is my card, please call me and we'll
schedule a meeting, so that you can learn about the details. -
Tomasz, the distributor, replied with a friendly smile.

They have met a few days later in
Tom's apartment, where Czesław was shown the documentation with the
testimonies of Tom's happy clients. Interestingly, the losing of
weight itself was merely the end result of the herbal therapy. Tom
emphasized the health benefits of using those nutritious herbs. They
appeared to be ultimate for body detox and moreover, they even
miraculously cure a number of seemingly incurable diseases. Czesław
was amazed by all those stories. A bit suspiciously, he thought that
it may be just an overdone sales job, typical for the American web
marketing. “Whatever, let's try, just for the heck of it”, he
thought and bought a package of herbs. It wasn't cheap. He spent over
200 pln for the start-up set and took it on a long trip. He hiked in
the mountains and drank herbal mixtures twice a day as a
meal-replacement. And indeed something began to happen. The mixtures
were filling, so Czesław wasn't hungry. Moreover, he urinated much
more frequently, is metabolism went off the charts and he often felt
extremely energized. After two weeks things really began to move. He
lost 2 pounds a day and his belly shrank. He lost 20 pounds in a
month. Feeling light and happy, he signed a distribution agreement.
He wanted to share his spectacular results with potential clients.

As he continued his therapy, he
lost another 20 pounds and also realized that his back and knees
didn't hurt anymore. All the fat disappeared and uncovered muscles,
all that time hidden underneath. He had to buy new clothes for his
new, fit self. Nothing indicated any potential problems.

And suddenly a catastrophe
happened. Happy was just sitting on the sofa and watching his
favorite tv show, when all of the sudden, he felt very cold and he
began shaking so hard, he couldn't control the chattering of his
teeth. He was suffocating.

- Help! Call an ambulance! - he
managed to babble to his frightened wife.

The ambulance arrived quickly.
Czesław came around as the orderly entered the apartment. He had his
blood pressure and blood sugar measured and the results were not
worrisome. The doctor was just about to resign from making any
serious decision, when Czesław got another mysterious attack. He was
therefore taken to the hospital. After a few hours of lying with the
drip infusion, he regained his wellness and was free to go home. The
doctor ordered him though to contact a family physician for more
detailed analyses.

- Doctor, as you can see I've lost
over 40 pounds. You told me that my symptoms are caused by obesity,
but losing weight didn't help me. Here is my latest discharge from
the hospital.

- Mh, it's not normal to lose so
much weight in so little time... - the doctor was trying to hide her
embarrassment, but her flickering eyelid gave away her nervousness.

- Doctor, I'm really terrified now.
It seems I can't stop myself from losing weight. How do I break this
process? I got very sensitive to temperature. One moment I'm hot and
sweaty, another moment I'm freezing. I'm very weak and my throat
feels as if I swallowed a doughnut. What's going on? Am I'm dying?

- Cold, sweating, blocked
throat...it really is worrisome. I'll give you a referral to an
endocrinologist. It looks like a thyroid imbalance.

Czesław's brother-in-law Dominik
introduced him to his fellow endocrinologist named Jarek. Unlike
Dominik, Jarek was a very tall and fine figure of a sad man. He
barely said anything to Czesław, only ordered him to lay on the
couch. He switched on a screen and wrapped a paper towel around
Czesław's neck. Then he spread some kind of oil on the thyroid area
and, without any word of warning, stuck a long needle-probe nearby
the collarbone. Terrified Czesław closed his eyes, waiting for
excruciating pain, but he only feel a weird sense of being pushed on.
Indifferent to his feelings doctor pulled the needle out and stuck it
again in a different place. He constantly observed the screen above
the patient's head. When he was done, he said shortly.

- During the examination I took
samples from the cusps I noticed in your thyroid. The results will be
ready next week.

- Doctor, what are those cusps? Is
it hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism? Or is it cancer?

- You'll find out next week. Good
bye.

- Good bye... - Confused Czesław
walked out of the doctor's office, still holding the slippery towel
to his neck.

The following week's results showed
that hormones were in balance, but the thyroid itself was
threateningly growing bigger inside Czesław's chest, almost
approaching his heart, and was filled with cusps, blocking his
esophagus – that's why he felt as if he swallowed a doughnut. The
further growth of the thyroid would result in suffocation and serious
complications for the heart and lungs. However, Jarek didn't explain
it all to Czesław during their following meeting. He only asked:

- So, Czesław, are we cutting?

- Cutting what? I don't understand..

- Are we cutting the thyroid out?

- I don't know what to say, doctor,
you're the one who knows if the operation is necessary.

- It's up to you. At the most,
you'll be choking. So, are we cutting?

- Alright, let's cut. I hope this
will make me feel better.

-I can't guarantee that. Whatever
you decide, you'll be doomed to taking hormonal medicine anyway. Here
is your hospital referral. You will be operated by my colleague, a
brilliant surgeon and proctologist.

- But doctor, doesn't a proctologist
specialize in a whole different part of body?

- I don't have time for jokes, I
have other patients waiting. Goodbye.

Next month, during a hard frost,
Czesław went to the hospital by iced taxi. He was examined in a
variety of ways the same day. He walked trough the corridors holding
referrals in his hands, shaking from cold and also from fear. Dressed
in pajamas and a robe, he sat for hours in poorly heated rooms. He
was afraid that if he caught a cold, he would have his surgery
canceled. Other patients did not seem to care about such details.
They were happy when it was their turn to be examined by a
specialist. They watched the queue vigilantly and could even hurt
anyone who would dare to go into a doctor's office on other terms.

Czesław was placed in an
exclusive, 2-bed-male room. It was connected to female room through
one bathroom. If one sex wanted to use the bathroom, they were
supposed to knock on the opposite sex's door, indicating that the
bathroom was busy. The hospital staff, however, could enter that
bathroom anytime from any side. That often caused awkward and
uncomfortable situations. Czesław was very surprised once, when,
just as he was urinating, he was kindly greeted by a beautiful,
dark-haired nurse, who came into the restroom at the same time to
wash a dish. Czesław couldn't have stopped what he was already
doing, but he did have a pleasant conversation with her, nonetheless.
The nurse observed him with interest. If he was single, he would
probably ask her out later on. And had it turned into a more serious
relationship, they would probably be reminiscing about their first,
romantic meeting in the hospital restroom.

It was noon, when all of the sudden
Czesław's room was filled with a great amount of doctors and
students with a professor as their leader. Among them, there were
doctors from all around the hospital and a number of foreign
students. Everyone was amazingly obedient and disciplined. The
students were taking notes.

- Good morning, sir, how are you
feeling? - the professor asked.

- Good morning. How am I feeling?
Not quite well.

- What do you mean, sir? Aren't you
ready for tomorrow's surgery?

- I'm scared.

- What are you scared of?

- Sir, I've heard so much about
doctor's mistakes lately that I'm actually nervous about being in
their hands and operated.

Silence fell among the gathered. The
professor didn't say anything more and the whole group left the room.

In the evening, the fellow
surgeon-proctologist came to visit Czesław. He sat by his bed and
gently said:

- Please don't be afraid. Everything
will be alright. You know, the statement you made earlier today,
during the round, evoked quite a havoc. The professor was offended
and the students were giggling. - I did not desire such effect.

I know, I know... But please keep
such comments to yourself. You know thanks to whom you're here. We
don't want any trouble, okay?

- Okay.

- The nurse will be here in a minute
to give you a tranquilizer. You'll have another one in the morning.
No worries! See you at the surgery.

In the morning, Czesław was given
another blue pill and soon, the world became extremely friendly to
him. He stood at the door to his room, dressed in a strange kind of
an apron (which did not cover his bottom) and observed the traffic of
the corridor. He was the first in line for “cutting”.

- Is everything ok? - the nurse
asked.

- Yes, thank you.

- I will shave you in a moment.

- Oh, that's not necessary, I've
already shaved.

- It's necessary for the surgery. I
will shave your chest.

- Oh, I see.

The nurse was soon back with all the
devices. She put some soap on Czesław's neck and chest and started
to quickly shave him with an old razor. Suddenly the telephone rang
and she ran to the guard room. Czesław was happily standing at the
door again with trickles of blood pouring down his neck. The nurse
apparently cut all of his marks, but it didn't bother him.

- Could you wipe the blood away,
please? It's staining my apron. - Czesław asked the nurse, who just
came back.

- Oh my, yes, I'll handle this. -
she put a thick towel on his neck. – Are you alright?

- Yes, no problem. But I would
gladly drink something.

- Am I getting this right? You drank
something?

- Well yes, I was thirsty, so I
drank half a bottle of water.

- Jesus Christ Almighty, what have
you done? You can't be operated now!

- Why not?

- I'll go find the doctor.

The vigilant nurse was right.
Drinking liquids before operation could actually sink a patient who
is about to have his throat cut. After consultations, doctors decided
to put the operation off for a few hours.

As hours went by, the blissful
feeling began to fade away, being replaced again by fear and worry.
Fortunately, he was taken to the operating room, soon. He fell asleep
immediately and time stopped. He awakened thinking that the surgery
haven't taken place yet, but the view of the drip infusion and a
weird tube running towards his throat changed his mind.

- Hello, Czesław. - the
surgeon-proctoligist greeted him.

- Hello...- Czesław was still
slightly stunned.

- We can take the mask off now.
You'll be given one more drip. - the surgeon said. - Please say
“Anna”. Can you hear me? Please say “Anna”.

- Why would I? My wife's name is
Danusia.

- Please say “Anna”.I have to
check if your vocal cords work properly.

- That as well, but I see mostly a
vinyl being scratched by a wiry brush and I hear ringing in my hears.

- That is weird. And not ath all
erothic. - the disappointed orderly admitted and left the room.

Report from the interview with Janet
James

Calgary, Alberta,
12th
October 2005

(2005)

- Good morning. My name is Mulder
and I am a secret service agent. I would like to talk to you about
the unusual event taking place in our province. I was informed that
the person who is most affected by those unexplainable events is you.
I would really appreciate it, if you told me everything you know
about this case, with no hurry.

- Alright. I will do my best to put
it in a proper, chronological order. It's not that easy, because it
dates back to my childhood. When I was a little girl, I lived in
Terrace, British Columbia. I was ten years old. On Halloween, we
decided to play hide-and-seek in a nearby forest. I was dressed in a
dark robe and a wizard hat. I was just sanding by a tree and counting
to ten, when suddenly wind stopped blowing and there was complete
silence. I couldn't find anybody, but I felt as if I was observed.
Suddenly, a strong, green light burst above me. I started to run, but
the light followed me and kept hanging above my head. And when I
finally got out of the forest, I met a whole group of people looking
for me, among whom were my parents. They told me I was gone for the
whole night. I can't remember anything more from that night.

- Why did you tell me tat? Is it
somehow connected to what's going on now?

- Absolutely. It does make sense.
When I moved to a different city after my divorce, that happened to
me again. I was an adult woman by then and a mother of a ten-year-old
girl. That night, I was coming back from work at a late hour and I
stopped the car on the side of the road at an overlook to take a
quick look at the stars. There was not a cloud in the sky. It was
beautifully filled with stars. It was warm and I felt happy. And then
suddenly I noticed three, green stars, doing strange maneuvers. They
seemed to be changing orders. They were approaching me. I wasn't able
to move. The light overtook me and I couldn’t remember anything
more. When I came home, my partner was worried, because, apparently,
I was gone for hours. He even called the police.

- You said you “couldn't”. Did
you manage somehow to recall those events later?

- In a sense, yes.

- How come?

- I thought I was losing my senses,
so I contacted a psychologist. After a few visits, I was offered a
hypnotic session, during which I told the most amazing story. It
turned out, I was abducted by aliens twice, as a little girl and as
an adult woman. They did horrifying experiments on me.

- How did those beings look?

- They were about three feet tall
and had melon-shaped heads, which narrowed down to tiny lips. They
had no noses nor ears, but they had huge, almond-shaped eyes and
cone-like appendices in the center of their faces. Their bodies were
very boney and they were moving funnily.

- And what were those experiments
like?

- I was laid on a cold, metal table.
Someone told me that he's a doctor. A huge drill surrounded with
lamps went down from the ceiling and screwed into my underbelly. I
fainted.

- Did you wake up at home?

- No. I awakened bonded to the metal
table, in a great hall. There were cocoons suspended all around me
with tiny beings inside them. Those were alien fetuses. I don't know
how, but I knew that one of them comes from my body.

- That’s a terrifying story! So
you're saying that those aliens took your “egg” to create some
kind of a hybrid child?

- Yes, that's the way I understand
it. Their race must be somewhat genetically weak and they are
strengthening it by creating crossbreeds.

- Alright, I know, more or less,
your version of the past events. But what can you tell me about the
present? Specifically about what happened yesterday?

- I was driving home from work with
my colleague. It was again cloudless night and she insisted on us
pulling off at that overlook I mentioned before. I didn't want to
stop there, but eventually agreed to. This time, I didn't see green
stars, but two pairs of shining eyes. I was worried, because this
area is inhabited by bears and pumas. But suddenly we realized that
those were not animals. Those were little beings, approaching us!

- Did they chase you?

- We started running towards the
car. Strangely, it felt as if I was running in slow motion. We got
into the car, but it wouldn't start. We screamed and panicked, as
those beings approached our vehicle. The engine eventually did start
and we managed to get away. We drove for about 10 miles, then we
pulled off and turned the lights off. No one chased us.

- So you were not abducted that
night?

- I don't think so, but I was
worried about my daughter, who was alone at home, waiting for me. I
drove home as quickly as I could and, to my great relief, she was
peacefully sleeping in her bed. It seemed that nothing happened...but
I was wrong.

- What do you mean?

- The following day was Sunday. The
three of us sat by the table to eat breakfast together. We were
amazed to find that we were all feeling unwell and had identical
symptoms – headache and ear-ringing. M daughter thought we caught a
flu. And suddenly blood burst out of my nose. The same thing happened
momentarily to my friend and soon, my daughter was suffering from a
heavy nosebleed.

- Ma'am, that might have been a
coincidence. Maybe the three of you actually caught a virus?

- I disagree. As I was putting my,
weakened by her nosebleed, little girl to bed, I noticed strange
drawings on her desk. Each piece of paper presented an almond-eyed
being. I asked my daughter who was that and she said that those
“little ghosts” visited her at night. One of them called himself
a doctor. She said she didn't like him and is afraid of him, because
he did unpleasant examinations to her. That's when I knew that
wherever I'd run, they will always find me. And what's worse, they
will find my daughter and probably all women in next generations in
our line. There is something about us that they like. I remember that
women in my family got pregnant often and easily and they often
miscarried while the fetuses were nowhere to be found...